State of affairs in judiciary not as grim as it used to be; wrong image due to misinformation: Justice S Abdul Nazeer retires

Supreme Court judge Justice S Abdul Nazeer on Wednesday said that the state of affairs in the Indian judiciary today is not as grim as it used to be though a wrong image is being conveyed due to misinformation..The top court judge, who retired from office today, was speaking at his farewell function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association. Justice Nazeer stated that the Supreme Court has always strived for excellence. "Majority of people assume state of affairs wrongly majorly because of misinformation in the society. Situation we see today is not as grim as it used to be," he said..In his address, Justice Nazeer also flagged the low representation of women in the bench. "There is always room for improvement. If I say Indian judiciary is immune to gender inequalities, I can't be farther away from reality. Representation of women in the judiciary is still very low."He compared his judicial career to cricket, saying, "I never played 20-20 in my career, it was a test match like [Sunil] Gavaskar. I did not aim for sixes."Justice Nazeer spoke of how in his initial days he had difficulty with English and knew he was not the smartest around in the legal profession. "I had duck syndrome; Where on upper level you are smoothly gliding but beneath you keep furiously paddling to stay afloat."In his address, the judge also implored the bar to give junior counsel opportunities to brief seniors and to argue cases wherever possible, and also pay them decently. "All that the younger generation needs is a mentor to channelise their energy and an invisible helping hand ... The juniors must be paid decently. These kids are learning depth of profession and we cannot lose them for the thought that legal profession is not viable. We need them and their inputs to provide equitable justice."Justice Nazeer ended his speech with a shloka (hymn) from the Manusmriti: Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah (Dharma/righteousness protects those who protect it). "Everything in this world is found on dharma. Dharma destroys those who are destroyed and protects the others," he said..Justice Nazeer was born on January 5, 1958 and enrolled as an advocate on February 18, 1983. He practiced before the Karnataka High Court and was appointed as an additional Judge of the High Court on May 12, 2003. He became a permanent judge on September 24, 2004.He was elevated to the Supreme Court of India on February 17, 2017.Read what CJI DY Chandrachud said about Justice Nazeer here..[Follow our coverage of the event]